Mastering Crystal Reports 9
Author: Cate McCoy, Gord Maric
List Price: $49.99
Our Price: Click to see the latest and low price
ISBN: 0782141730
Publisher: Sybex (14 November, 2002)
Sales Rank: 21,189
Average Customer Rating: 3.43 out of 5
Customer Reviews
Rating: 1 out of 5
Very disappointing for a beginner
I'm a Crystal Reports beginner. This book is not useful at all. You can easily create a simple report by following the steps described in first two chapters. However, after that, I was totally lost. The book describes a lot of things available in Crystal Reports without following samples. There are samples available for each chapter on the web. However, there was no connection between the samples and the book. I don't how the sample reports were produced and I just couldn't learn how to create reports by just reading the book. I'm very disappointed at the book.
Rating: 2 out of 5
Disappointing for the Non-Beginner
Here are the good points:
. the examples do follow through many of the features of Crystal Reports 9Here are the bad points:
. there is a lot of unnecessary verbiage which pads out the size of the book; the verbiage is intended to make the text friendly, but for someone trying to determine how a feature works, it is highly obstructive and irritating
. the typeface in which the book is set is quite difficult to read
. the examples do not pass on understanding of the principles of each feature; the attempt to grasp a general concept gets drowned in the details
. many features (too numerous to mention) are glossed-over, including advanced features needed by the enterprise programmer
. the index includes references which are totally useless (e.g. McLuhan, Marshall who has absolutely nothing to do with the topic) and lacks completely necessary references
. while not a "1,200 page tome" (see another review) it is a 639 page tome
While the title includes the word "Master", this book is really for the programming beginner. For example, veterans do not need another tedious review of object-oriented programming, or SQL, or Basic language syntax, and so on. Seeing as there are entire libraries on these topics, the reviews are necessarily inadequate anyhow.
Rating: 5 out of 5
I wanted to learn Crystal Reports 9 and this was excellent
Already a SQL, VB, and .NET programmer, I wanted o add CR to the repetoire. I picked this book up from Amazon and was pleasantly surprised with the depth and descriptions. If you're looking for a book that gives you the low down on CR, pick this one up. I also travel as a consultant often and this book is not a 1,200 page tome either (which I appreciate).
Enjoy!
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Book Index